Moved on EC orders, meet Iqbal Chahal: Mumbai civic body chief who left his stamp during Covid, came to be seen as a ‘rubber stamp’

Chahal was appointed as BMC commissioner in May 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak and the city was recording the highest number of cases in the country. He had previously served as the principal secretary in the Urban Development Department.

Post the expiry of the tenure of the corporators in 2022, Chahal became the sole administrator running the country’s richest civic body. In March 2024, he became the longest serving administrator in the BMC’s 135-year-old history.

One of Chahal’s first moves after assuming charge during Covid was decentralising the helplines and setting up centres in each of the city’s 24 municipal wards. The decision led to more efficient isolation of patients and was replicated by many civic bodies across the country, including in the national capital.

Chahal, a 1989-batch IAS officer, also oversaw sanctioning of infrastructure projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore including phase two of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project and the civic body’s mega road concretisation project.

It was during his tenure that the first phase of the coastal road project was completed and thrown open for vehicular traffic.

“It was during my tenure that the BMC issued work orders to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The earlier average annual work was not more than Rs 10,000 crore. Projects taken up over the past two years are future proof and will benefit citizens in the long run,” he told The Indian Express earlier this month.

But, known for his close association with chief ministers cutting across party lines, Chahal also had his fair share of controversies. Appointed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Uddhav Thackeray, Chahal scrapped several infrastructure projects worth Rs 6,921 crore within six months of the Eknath Shinde government coming to power in July 2022. Most of the scrapped projects were seen as having the backing of leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray Sena faction, including Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2023 pointed out financial irregularities worth Rs 12,000 crore in 76 projects executed between November 28, 2019, and October 31, 2022. Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided 14 locations across the city in connection with an alleged Rs 38-crore jumbo Covid care centres scam. .

During his tenure as the sole administrator of the civic body, Chahal was also accused of functioning at the behest of the state government and there were allegations of disparity in the funds for wards represented by Opposition parties.

His February 2023 order which empowered Mumbai’s guardian ministers Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Deepak Kesarkar to disburse civic funds to all MLA constituencies had also raised eyebrows.

An investigation by The Indian Express revealed that BMC had disbursed funds to the tune of Rs 500.64 crore only to the constituencies with MLAs from the ruling parties. At the ward level, a blanket fund of Rs 5 crore was allotted to areas where the sitting Opposition corporators had shifted to the ruling alliance.

Chahal maintained that the BMC operated in a transparent manner. “All policy decisions are uploaded on the website. The CAG has also given clearance post its audit. It is unfair to accuse the BMC,” he earlier told The Indian Express.

On Wednesday, along with Gagrani, the EC also approved the appointment of Saurabh Rao and Kailas Shinde as the new municipal commissioners of Thane and Navi Mumbai respectively.